Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 4:56 AM ET

OR max pain

Spot (delayed)$33.36
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$30-10.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.8±23.4% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.872K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3043.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$13Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $25

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$30-10.1%6d
Fri, Sep 18$35+4.9%34d
Fri, Oct 16$40+19.9%62d
Fri, Jan 15$30-10.1%153d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot30202734414855$4M$0
■ put-side pain■ call-side painTotal payout option writers would owe at each settle price (both sides, all open interest, ×100 shares) — low settles hurt put writers, high settles hurt call writers. The minimum — 30 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot302025354555725725
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)OR open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

Open-interest change — building vs unwinding

Needs two observed snapshot days for this expiration — the comparison appears automatically once the next weekday snapshot lands. We diff real observations only; nothing is estimated.

Volume by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot302025354555239239
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot20273441485563%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 44.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 252025354555+$18K$18K
Net dealer gamma per strike, in dollars per 1% move, assuming the standard convention (dealers long calls, short puts) — an assumption, not an observation. Above the amber flip level hedging tends to dampen moves; below it, to amplify them.

Greeks by strike · Fri, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.00200.00810.02-0.00-0.04
0.93-0.0022.50.01320.03-0.01-0.07
0.88-0.01250.02030.04-0.01-0.13
0.71-0.01300.03490.07-0.01-0.29
0.52-0.01350.04040.09-0.01-0.49
0.35-0.01400.03660.08-0.01-0.67
0.23-0.01450.02910.07-0.01-0.80
0.14-0.01500.02150.05-0.01-0.89
0.09-0.01550.01530.04-0.01-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot17.522.5304050602K0
Call open interest per strike, stacked across the checked expirations — each color is one expiry. Strikes are pruned to the liquid center of each chain.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot1522.53550652K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 9K call contracts, 6K put contracts open.

Reading this honestly

Max pain is arithmetic, not prophecy: the settle price that would minimize what option writers pay out at expiration, computed from open interest alone. Prices sometimes gravitate toward heavy strikes into expiry — dealer hedging is a real flow — but the evidence that max pain predicts settlement better than chance is mixed, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Use it as a map of where positioning is stacked, next to the fundamentals and the earnings calendar, not as a target.

Data: Cboe delayed public feed (~15 minutes), refreshed here about every 15 minutes. Open interest itself updates once daily, before the open. Educational information, not investment advice.

Keep going: OR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk